Random Acts of Miranda
Random Acts of Miranda is the fourteenth episode of Lizzie McGuire's first season. Synopsis Lizzie gives Miranda a bad review when she plays the lead role in the school play. Miranda soon realizes that singing is her main talent, rather than acting. Matt and Lanny want a pair of walkie-talkies but Matt's parents refuse to pay for it. So Matt sells everything he owns (including his bed and clothes) to get the money. Plot Lizzie, who is writing for the school newspaper, asks for the assignment of covering the school's production of Mr. Escobar's play "Greasier." Miranda is overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets the lead in the play. When Lizzie and Gordo go to rehearsal, however, they are dismayed to find that Miranda is a terrible actress, and clumsy to boot. Miranda is confident before the opening of the play, but her performance is no better and she destroys most of the props and scenery. Lizzie can't bring herself to write the bad review Miranda deserves, but Gordo thinks she'll be able to take it. Lizzie writes a review that is honest, but goes easy on Miranda. Her friend doesn't see it that way, though, and thinks Lizzie has betrayed her. At lunch they get into a big fight. Gordo gives Miranda a tape of her performance and a copy of Lizzie's review and asks her to watch and read them both. Lizzie writes a retraction of her review but Miranda now realizes she was just being honest and tells her not to print it. One month later, Lizzie is in the audience preparing to cringe as Miranda makes her debut with the glee club. But she's pleasantly surprised to hear that Miranda is a fine singer. Also, Matt wants $90 for walkie-talkies for him and Lanny (who still isn't talking!) Mr. and Mrs. McGuire want him to work for the money himself. The boys have a yard sale with Matt's stuff. Matt gets the walkie-talkies, but when his parents enter his room, they find that he's sold everything that was there including his clothes and the furniture. Trivia *This episode was filmed from December 6th through December 10, 2000. *The title of Mr. Escobar's play "Greasier" is probably taken from Grease. (The popular 1978 movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John started out as a play and is still produced onstage.) But the story and characters don't seem to have much to do with the real Grease. Miranda's character is named Rhonda Doppapopoulos. *Lizzie refers to being in the school soccer playoffs. This is one of the few times it's mentioned that Lizzie plays soccer. The mentions are so few, in fact, that this could almost be considered a goof, since the subject is so rarely brought up and Lizzie shows such little interest in it otherwise. *Troy Rowland makes his first appearance in a Lizzie episode, behind the camera he has also been Hilary's dialogue coach and bodyguard. *Miranda and Lizzie talk as if neither had ever been in a play before, but in "Lizzie Strikes Out" Miranda says she was in a school "holiday pageant" as a "maid a'milkin'." *In the opening scene, Gordo states that cannibalism existed on Trinidad and Tobago until 1850. A review of several sources shows no evidence that the native Carib Indians continued this practice to the nineteenth century. *David Alex Rosen and Jeremy Bargiel, the two "big guys" seen in several other episodes, are in this one, too. They appear in some still photos sitting with Jo McGuire in some stadium bleachers, but they're not listed in the credits. *When Gordo is shown filming the play and the glee club, he's holding his camera at shoulder level, which would presumably get shots of the backs of the head of those sitting in front of him. *During her audition for the Glee Club Miranda sings Reflection from the animated Disney Movie Mulan Goofs *In the scene where Miranda tells Lizzie and Gordo about getting the lead in the play, there are a couple of loose strands of hair in front of Lizzie's face. A moment later, her hair is all neatly pinned back in her ponytail *When Lizzie is in the family room with Gordo writing her review, it doesn't appear that her pen is actually touching the paper. *When Miranda says she'll try out for the Glee Club, Lizzie is worried that she'll be a bad singer. Yet in "Aaron Carter Is Coming to Town," Lizzie tells Miranda she's a wonderful singer and should perform for Aaron. (This is a prime example of confusion caused by showing episodes out of production order. "Random Acts" was shot before "Aaron..," but it wasn't broadcast until after it.) Category:Season 1